Dan Ioan Popescu (; born March 10, 1948 in Ploieşti) is a Romanian businessman and politician. A chemical engineer, he served between 2001 and 2003 as Minister of Industry and between 2003 and 2004 as Minister of Economy, both in the Adrian Năstase cabinet. He is married and has one child. Biography He spent his childhood and teenage years in his home town, Ploieşti, completing primary education at General School no.8 and General School no.11, and graduating the Mihai Viteazul High School. From 1966 to 1971 he studied at the Faculty of Industrial Chemistry of the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest. Developing a solid interest in academic work, he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1981, with a thesis on Phosphorus Nitrate Chlorides. While working on his Ph.D. thesis, he attended the courses of the Policy and Management University (1977–1980). From 1985 to 1989 he continued his studies at Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy. Between 1977 and 1985 he was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Industrial Chemistry. Academic activity Starting from the period of his research for the Ph.D thesis and throughout the 1990s, Dan Ioan Popescu authored and published more than 60 papers in speciality journals in Romania and abroad. He is also the author of more than 30 patents in the field of chemistry and of more than 30 communications and speeches in this field, many of them being presented in international meetings. Articles and specialty surveys (excerpt) 1977 – "Anti-sliding products based on silicon dioxide, used in the textile industry" 1978 – "Inorganic polymers based on N-P applicable in the textile industry" 1980 – "Synthesis of 4-3 Hydroxyethyl Aniline and of two reactive derivatives of dyes" 1980 – "IR spectrophotometry of certain phosphagen and phosphasine intermediates" 1980 – "Synthesis of certain acid dyes with dibenzo ( f,l), isoquinoline (2,3-b), quinazoline 5-10- dionic structure" 1980 – "Rheological behaviour of "agglutinant paste" and its influence in the printing process" 1981 – "Synthesis of dispersed dyes with heterocycloketonic structures for synthetic fibres" 1981 – " Hydroxipropylic starch based on agglutinants for the printing process" 1981 – "Synthesis of 2,4 diaminoacetanilide and dyes based on acids" 1983 – "Synthesis of dispersed dye for polyester fibers starting from 3,5 dichloroantranilic acid" 1983 – "Dibromoantranilic acid and some derivatives of dyes" 1983 – "Synthesis of 4- chloracetanilide and of certain cationic derivatives of dyes" 1983 – "Synthesis of 2- methyl-1,8- naphthopyrimidine, raw material